D&D General Why Were the Dragon and Dungeon Magazines Discontinued?

[DEFCON 1]

I think they were still profitable when WotC cut the print version...bit on a downward trend, and the digital version did not turn it around.

Well, the digital versions were not money-makers on their own anyway... they were just one additional facet of D&D Insider, which included the 4E Character Builder, Monster Builder and a couple other things. So WotC earnings from it (or lack thereof) were based on 4E's popularity in and of itself.

 

[jayoungr]

When I first got into running D&D around 2007 one of my favorite things to do was to collect the new issues of Dragon Magazine and Dungeon Magazine, and even when they went fully digital with 4E I still loved looking at each issue for inspiration and resources. Some of my favorites were the various series on gods, demon lords, and archfey.

Have you checked out ENworld's En5ider? Might scratch the same itch, although it comes out as individual articles.

 

[Parmandur]

Id say just be thankful you have any option when it comes to monthly magazine type products.

Buy I don't read magazines in the Two Thousand and Twenty-Fourth Year of Our Lord. Toss the Century of the Fruitbat now, after all.

 

[DEFCON 1]

That being said... for anyone who was actually playing 4E, D&D Insider for $6 bucks a month was a tremendous value. The two Builders alone were more than worth that money... making the digital Dragon and Dungeon magazines icing on the cake. Which is why I never got too bent out of shape that I thought most of the early Dungeon adventures were kind of useless for me (although they did get better over subsequent years once they got past the three encounter "delve" format that @the Jester mentioned.)

 

[payn]

Buy I don't read magazines in the Two Thousand and Twenty-Fourth Year of Our Lord. Toss the Century of the Fruitbat now, after all.

Then I really dont know what you are even arguing.

 

[darjr]

Ed Greenwood has some lore at the DMSGuild. Much of it with the regional AL orgs, and that’s supposed to be official. Not sure if it’s generally considered so.

There are other products with content from Ed too, like an awesome candlekeep book that has the map references in the official WotC Candlekeep Mysteries book. I’d say that makes it pretty official
Lore.

 

[Parmandur]

Then I really dont know what you are even arguing.

That people don't read magazines like they used to, so fewer get made, so fewer people read them, so fewer get made...and Dungeon and Dragon died a natural death given that cycle.

 

[Parmandur]

Ed Greenwood has some lore at the DMSGuild. Much of it with the regional AL orgs, and that’s supposed to be official. Not sure if it’s generally considered so.

There are other products with content from Ed too, like an awesome candlekeep book that has the map references in the official WotC Candlekeep Mysteries book. I’d say that makes it pretty official
Lore.

Chris Perkins stated position is that as long as what Greenwood says doesn't contradict the published material, people can consider it canon (but also that WotC won't hold any movie or novel accountable for it).

 

[Corinnguard]

There is Level Up's monthly Gate Pass Gazette, which does contain several articles that can be used for 5e. They're mostly online issues, but I think you could order a physical copy of each issue.

Personally, I wait until the Kickstarter for the next Gate Pass Gazette Annual is launched for my GPG fix.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Not to mention the multiple quality new Eberron books Keith Baker has produced.

Greenwood has written FR books on DMsGuild too. I can't imagine how lore could get more "official" than these two. It's not ALL "someone's obscure homebrew".